McDonald had been on the shelf since early May due to shoulder soreness, though he’s recently progressed to the point at which he can pitch in games. He’s making $3.025 million this season, so it’d cost another team about $500,000 to take a flier on him for the rest of the year. Since he’s not eligible for free agency until after the 2015 season, there’s enough upside to justify the risk. If he shows something this month, a team could keep him in arbitration for about that same $3 million salary next year. If he doesn’t, then he gets non-tendered and probably signs for $1 million-$2 million at the most this winter.

The 28-year-old McDonald is 32-30 with a 4.20 ERA lifetime in 82 starts and 49 relief appearances. He was 2-2 with a 5.76 ERA before going down this season.

McDonald showed a lot of promise when he first came up with the Dodgers at the tail end of the Joe Torre era in L.A. He was kind of rushed to be a starter due to the tight fistedness of the McCourt’s and the mortgage payments to their his and her Malilbu mansions.